We're Back and We're Personally Isolating Dahl Fans, Seuss Fans, Babies and Dragon Lovers

Welcome to the first episode of In Her Good Books (formerly Best Book Club).

We are a little rusty, not gonna lie, but we are just glad to be making episodes again!

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

They by Kay Dick
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais
Legends of the Dragonrealm:  Firedrake by Richard A. Knaak
Almost Human by Junji Ito
Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth
Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

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Transcript

[00:00:00] 

Shanna: Hello everyone. I'm Shannon. And I'm Jen. And welcome to In Her Good Books, it's podcast

We're two best friends. Tell you all things books. 

Jen: Welcome to the very first episode of What Is Now the In Her Good Books podcast for all of you loyal longtime best Book Club listeners. We know this is different, but change is good and we are still the same, so don't even worry about it.

Shanna: I have issue. With that statement, , we are significantly more damaged to them before. 

Okay. 

Jen: I am the same. . Shannon is different. 

Shanna: so jaded. 

Jen: Uh, you'll see, you'll see, you'll see. 

Shanna: But I'm sorry that we've been gone for so [00:01:00] long. 

Jen: We are very excited to be back.

Shanna: Yes. 

Jen: Very excited to be a little bit different. 

Shanna: Little bit different. Yeah.

Jen: Why don't we just get started? 

Shanna: Let's do it. What are you reading? 

Jen: Well, I have found that there is a writing style that I hate. 

Shanna: So that's what you're reading exclusively? 

Jen: Yes. 

Shanna: Yep. Knew it. 

Jen: That is what I'm reading exclusively. 

Shanna: I know you 

Jen: So what I'm talking about is there's a certain writing style where. you are almost entirely in the head of a totally unhinged protagonist, okay? And you're just going along with them in their day of being totally unhinged , and you don't know what's going on. You don't know what's real you, you're just seeing everything through their skewed point of view. 

Shanna: You love Ka own award.

Jen: I know. [00:02:00] I love. , but this one particular style there's no real plot. Okay. It's just like internal ramblings of an unwell person. Okay. For an entire. 

Shanna: Are we talking like turn of the key? That extreme of consciousness.

Jen: Yeah. Yeah. I didn't like that book at all. . Um, so I tried reading a book called Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt, and I had to dnf it after 45% because I just could not be there any longer. . Okay. It seemed like a really interesting book. It's a horror novel by a trans author about a trans woman who experiences something in a house and it forces her and her best friend to break up and one of her other friends to die. Everyone has different, um, memories of what happened in the house and they're being haunted by it. At the same time we're going through different,[00:03:00] anti-trans protests and the different sides of that story. Um, and yeah even though it sounded really interesting and good, I couldn't do it. I didn't, I did not care what was happening inside these people's heads. Yeah. Um, so I gave that up and I was like, Kate, no, I can't do it. I'm not smart enough for this book, . And then I read Mother Thing by Ainsley Hogarth, which if anyone from other book club is listening to this podcast, they're going to cry actual tears. Oh. Because they said I would love it. , they loved it. Like five stars. Love it. Are obsessed with it. 

Shanna: How many of them were moms?

Jen: Zero. 

Shanna: Perfect. 

Jen: Yeah. which someone did say maybe it would hit you different if you are a mom, and I don't know if that's the problem because this was just another situation where we're just following around this woman who you're just like, what is going on through your head like, I didn't want to be there.

[00:04:00] Um, it's about this woman whose husband's mother commits suicide like on the first page of the book. And then he thinks he's being haunted by his dead mom, who is a terrible mom. she wants to get pregnant so that she can be a mom. 

Shanna: This is not the ghost mom.

Jen: No. The wife. 

Shanna: Because then you gotta find a ghost dad and you gotta make ghost babies. And that's, . I don't even know how long you gotta be pregnant when you're a ghost. 

Jen: Probably. So long. Yeah. Like so long. I don't even know. 

Shanna: Did you finish it? 

Jen: I stopped at like 90%. Oh, so you should know enough. Yeah, I know enough. Yeah. Um, there's also something in books that I really, it just turns me off immediately and it's like gross things. Mm-hmm. guts exploding, or brains being blown apart or anything like that, that's fine. But like diarrhea, farting, , um, stale sheets and the smell of [00:05:00] bodies in pajamas after being sleeping for days and days, it was just every sentence was like, and then Ralph moved and I smelt a whiff of his underarms. 

Shanna: you love under arms, don't lie to us . 

Jen: And I'm just like, Ugh. And then she's like, and then I went to the toilet and I had diarrhea it's just like, oh, it was too much. I hate, I just hate it. It makes me feel gross. And yeah, I almost got to the end. I was like, I just don't care. I don't, I cannot listen to this for another second. Yeah. Which I gave it up. I dfd two books in a row, which is unheard of. It is really, yeah. So that was really sad. Also, the, the cover of mother thing is gorgeous. Take a look at it. It's so good. I still kind of wanna buy it anyways, just so I can have the book on shelf, even though I hated it so much. . But anyways, I'm sure these books are good for other people, not [00:06:00] for me. Yeah, unfortunately. but then I just started reading, uh, it's called The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson. And I didn't know this when I started reading it, but it is actually a care retelling. Ooh. Which was kind of fun. Yeah. Um, it was noticeable immediately cuz I was listening to it and I was like, this is Carrie that is weird. I don't know if I've read any other retellings of more modern books. They've read lots of retellings of classics. , but then I guess Carrie is almost 50 years old, so Oh yeah. It's kind of old. But yeah, it was, it was kind of weird. But, it is different in the way that instead of Carrie, we've got this teenage girl named Maddie. She has been passing as white her whole life. And her dad, instead of being a religious fanatic, is like a white supremacist kind of [00:07:00] guy. 

Shanna: He And he is white? He's white?

Jen: Yeah, he's white. His daughter is biracial. So he's white. How did that happen? Well, I don't know. Oh, , . There's rumors that he's, he had sex with lots of black sex workers. Um, but anyways, so she is been passing as white then at school, it's not just like the regular bullying, it's actually like they, uh, these kids find out that she is black. And then the bullying is more of the racist variety, but. at their school. They have segregated proms still.

Shanna: I was gonna say, when is this set? 

Jen: So it's set in current times. But it feels like it's set in the fifties, sixties, because just in my opinion, being. A Canadian not racist person, the way that [00:08:00] they speak to each other. And having a segregated prom says that it's set way back in the olden days. yeah. , but I've found out because of this book that segregated proms are still a thing in the States in a lot of places, especially in the southern states. It's still an actual thing that is happening. 

Shanna: That's insane. Right. . Yeah. I was thinking like maybe the wink, wink, accidental segregation of where all of the black people are living. Mm-hmm. , and then that school, and then that just happens to not have any white people. Yeah. It just happens, you know? But no, if it's actually a mixed race school mm-hmm. , which doesn't even feel right to say with my mouth. 

Jen: I know. I know, right? Um, so yeah in this book, they live in a town that does that. And they're all like, it's tradition. It's just always been this way. Mm-hmm. We we're not racist, it's just tradition and then they do a whole bunch of racist stuff constantly. [00:09:00] Um, so the whole big idea is that they're gonna have everyone prom, which turns out to be the prom where, you know, stuff happens. Yes. Yep. So it's ya horror, which I'm really liking lately and it's been really good. my only thought is that sometimes it feels less like a retelling of Carrie and more. just exactly like Carrie.

Shanna: Just Carrie again. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. 

Jen: ,some of the scenes I'm like, yes. I feel like I've definitely read before. Which is kind of fun. Cause I really like Carrie, so it's not bad, but it just doesn't feel original at all. Yeah. It doesn't feel like I'm getting something new out of the story. Mm-hmm. , I'm just rereading a different version of it, but overall it's been really good. I'm only about halfway, so I don't know exactly how it's gonna go, but yeah, so far I, I'd recommend it. Thanks. Well, what about you 

Shanna: on that note? Um, , [00:10:00] I am reading stuff. What was what? I started this book called They by K Dick. It is, um, from 1977, so it is old. And what popped out to me is when it's little, so I can definitely read it. I think it's like 107 pages. , there's a Forward by Carmen Maria Machado. Oh, yes. So I know that I haven't read anything by her, but I know you have. Mm-hmm. and enjoyed her. And then there is a little blurb here, a masterpiece of creeping. , and that was Emily St. John Mandela. It said that. Oh yeah. So that was two very good indications that I will like it. So a set on the English coast, and there are all of these refugees, like cultural refugees that are artists and poets and authors and just like artsy fartsy people. [00:11:00] and There's this great big entity of they, and they're taking memories and they're taking all of the art and they're punishing people who are doing those things. So anybody who is single, anybody who is, um, childless like anybody, they're being cured of identity. So it reminds me of a book I read a while ago called The Memory Police, and that was a translated book by Yokogawa. And that one was about this small weird island where people, they just wake up and then they forget the birds. birds are gone and just these pieces of these people are starting to be missing. Now. This one's been really good so far. it's very, it almost feels like blanking. I don't know if that makes any sense, but they'll be going to somebody's house and then they'll be going to bed and then they'll be at their house and then they'll be walking down the [00:12:00] coast and then they'll be talking to somebody else. So it's a little bit fragmented, but I think that that's probably on purpose because of what's happening in the book. but yeah, it's been really good and I'm liking it. And also it's, uh, horror. Mm-hmm. , so I think you'll like it. Yeah, it's uh, got a lot of body horror in it too, which is cool. what else am I reading? Okay, I'm reading audio. You're not gonna care even a little bit baby , but 

Jen: I care. . 

Shanna: Okay. Um, it's called Legends of the Dragon Realm. 

Jen: I don't care. uh, oh, 

Shanna: uh, it's a series. Don't worry. You'll get to hear about Oh, good. A lot of it. Um, it was recommended to me and the author. Is Richard a Knack? And I thought, that sounds really familiar. What else has he written? . And so I looked at my shelf and [00:13:00] he wrote a bunch of World of Warcraft books. 

Jen: Yeah, that sounds right. 

Shanna: Yes. And so that really like, put me exactly into the zone of what this is gonna be. Um, it's about, it's a hero's journey. It's about a guy who suddenly finds out that he's like, An air, not an air, not like a king, but like has powers and he just gets swept away on this journey. And there's warlocks and there's this whole flight of dragons and they're the dragon kings and they are bad and they gotta get killed. But of course, this guy, he was a baby, right? And they were like, ah, don't mind that baby. . Nothing bad will happen with that baby. Let's ignore that baby. I don't know. Why do they do that? Always kill the baby . See, I've changed my stance, . 

Jen: Wow. I did not see that coming. If y'all have been listening to this podcast for a while, [00:14:00] you'll know Shannon hates killing babies.

Shanna: I, it's usually my least favorite thing. Yeah. I just never understand when they leave. Oh. So this is the one thing that could potentially kill us. , let's just forget about it for 30 years. . . 

Jen: And then 30 years later, oh my God

Shanna: how did he get the sword? ? But yes, it's been fun. It's been just a fantasy. There's dragons, there's magic. It's fun. So I'm liking that. It's really nice to have in my ears just walking down the street and. , having people chopping away at stuff. Mm-hmm. , you know how I do. Oh, you don't wanna hear what I read. I do books. What? Um, I read the witches moonshine manor, 

Jen: which was lovely.

It was lovely. I quite enjoyed it. It did. TJ gluten thing [00:15:00] where it's just got a couple like really heavy handed lessons in it, where it kind of takes you out to be like, don't forget this lesson. But I mean, it didn't take, well, it took me slightly outta the story, but not in a way that made me angry at the book. Um, it wasn't trying to teach me bad lessons. 

Yeah, the lessons were. . 

Shanna: Um, yeah. And that one is about a bunch of witches who are old, but they weren't always old. So we get to hear about them when they were young and they're this coven and they, oh. Uh, just read the book yourselves, guys. Come on. . What are you doing here?

Jen: they have this manner and in the manner is a distillery, which doesn't really matter, but I really, I thought it was kind of cool. 

Shanna: I was kind of upset that they didn't make that thing more financially like viable. Yeah. What the heck? Yeah, you could be selling your drugged liquor to all sorts of people.

Jen: Yeah. They're about to lose their manor house because this group of men in town wanna build men's land. Oh [00:16:00] yes. Or men's world. I almost forgot about men's world. , some kind of men's place. on the, uh, the land where the manor is. Um, and so now they have to come up with $500,000. 

Shanna: There's no way your mortgage was that much. No, it's much ago. 

Jen: Much , they have to come up with $500,000 in like a week. to pay it off. 

Shanna: They have until midnight though. Yeah. Yeah. . Oh, on Halloween. Ooh. Which is very handy for witches. 

Jen: So we've got a surprising, uh, kind of museum heist in there, which I wasn't expecting. I didn't really care about the heist that much, cuz I'm not really a heisty type gal. 

Shanna: Yeah. Um, I am a heisty type gal and it wasn't that great a heist.

Jen: Yeah. Like there was no drop in from the ceiling on like a rope and then . 

Shanna: It's really necessary. You need to tuck into at least one like bellhops cart thing. .

Jen: Yeah. They pretty much just walked in, stole the thing. Well, a monkey [00:17:00] stole it, but whatever. and then they left and it's fine

Shanna: I guess spoilers for witches a moon, a moonshine manner. 

Jen: Nah, there are spoilers in this book. This book was. one of very few books recently that has been able to surprise me multiple times. I just was surprised. Surprised, surprised. And I love that. It was really fun. 

Shanna: Yeah. There were a few good ones in there.

Jen: Yeah. It's a really great book about female friendship. Found family and magic. Yep. 

Shanna: Can't go wrong. 

Jen: Yep. Um, also, so , the author of the book is Bianca Marray. If you go to her website, you can do a quiz to find out which witch you are. We in our whole book club, we're all Ursula. 

Shanna: We are getting suspicious that there's even another answer.

Jen: Yeah, Ursula is just the author's favorite one and or that's the only one she had time to do. Either way, we're all our Ursula, um, also on her [00:18:00] website, she has all kinds of stuff. It's really good., there's a playlist there, for the book. Um, there is a place where you can order a sticker of what she imagines all the witches to look like. And so I did that and then it came in the mail today. So I got this nice little like purple envelope and I had forgotten that I had done this. And I was like, Ooh, mail for me. And then I opened it up and I could just see this little piece of paper in there. And my first thought was, It's gonna say , it's gonna say You are next, or I know what you did or I hate you, or something like terrible. That's exactly where my mind went and I was like, why am I like this? Yeah. Because then I pulled it out and it was this nice picture of all these little witches and it said, um, to Jennifer, here's two aging disgracefully Bianca Moray. And I was signed and it was so cool. That is, I was very cool. I was pretty excited about it. So, . Yeah. [00:19:00] Read the book. Do the quiz, get the sticker. Sweet. Yeah, that's what we're saying. 

Shanna: Yeah. And then I read one more, uh, this year. I know guys, usually I average between five and eight books a month. I've only read two. And it is March . Um, but I did read a manga by, I wanna say Ji Ito. And it's called No Longer Human, and it's based on a. Book of the same name by, uh, Osamu Desai. Ooh, come at me guys. That was not good . But uh, yeah. So it was recommended to me by Jen's oldest daughter, and it is so creepy. I was reading it and I was like, JRA, you are 16. Who? Like what kind of mother do you ? [00:20:00] 

Jen: Well, you showed it to me and I was like, what kinda mother am I, ? It was darker than what I'm used to reading, that's for sure. And I read some crazy stuff. Sometimes 

Shanna: I also read some crazy stuff and this is up there on my list. So, um, it definitely. Changed where my setting is for things I will recommend to Jora. I know. Turns out I can turn it up like five notches. Mm-hmm. . And it's fine. 

Jen: Yeah. It made me realize I could probably like watch Titanic with her now, . So I asked her and she said, no,

Shanna: I'm not interested anymore. You missed your window. I did , uh. . It is dark. It is very, very dark. Um, the art though. So Ji Ito is the artist. Um, and he is incredible. It just was [00:21:00] so visceral. There's one part, and this is, this sucks guys. So be warned. I guess in Japan or maybe everywhere. I don't know. It's like this long spoon that they get earwax out with. Listen, I'm not an ear doctor, I don't know, but he's having this moment where he is getting earwax outta somebody's ear that's laying down. It's called this long spiky spoon. And he grabs an ashtray and smashes it through the guy's head. And it actually made me like gasp and jump. And then it was just like an intrusive thought, but ugh. And it happened a few times to that book where I actually was genuinely shocked and I could feel it in my body. So really cool Art, really messed up story. Like not a great story. I don't, I don't know. I'm gonna read the original book since I have it on my shelf. . Yeah. Very, very interesting. And that's it. That's all I read. [00:22:00] 

Jen: That's pretty good. 

Shanna: Thank you. Now I just need to have four every time I show up. Yeah. 

Jen: two is good. You could have two. 

Shanna: Can one of them always be a picture book? Yes. Perfect. And dragons. Yeah. I, you would get upset after a while, ? 

Jen: Uh, after a while just , put my headphones in. Listen to something else while you're talking about your boring stuff.

Shanna: Yeah. I'll just hack your phone and be like, dragon book . . 

Jen: It's okay. I like dragons. 

Shanna: Yeah. I wore my dragon earrings today. Yeah, 

Jen: there you go. Theme. Okay, so this is kind of old news now, but it's just been on my mind a little bit and I wanted to bring it. Roald Dahl . 

Shanna: Oh, you know what? Guess what really actually means nothing to me. I never read any of his books.

Jen: Okay. Me neither. Really? 

Shanna: Yeah. He wasn't on my radar as like the thing to be reading. 

Jen: I was really hoping that you were gonna bring some insightful insight No. About these books. 

Shanna: No. I could read them real quick.

Jen: Okay. Get going. Okay, well he has [00:23:00] been in the news quite a lot recently. 

Shanna: He's alive. 

Jen: No. 

Shanna: Oh dang. 

Jen: He personally is dead. . His books have been in the news. Okay. Recently. I started doing some reading about him because yeah, he's not been on my radar ever because not, he's never, he's never been 

Shanna: on my radar. I've never read his books. , 

Jen: pretty much never. Um, yeah, I didn't read his books when I was a kid. Well, I read, um, the only one I did read was James and The Giant Peach. I saw the movie. Yeah. 

Shanna: Good. I also 

Jen: saw the BF. Yeah, I didn't see that. I don't know anything about the B fg. Oh, big friendly giant. That's all I know.

Shanna: Yeah. And when I was told, do you wanna go to the movie? I was like, yeah, sure. Like B fg. I was like, I don't care. . 

Jen: Yeah. Um, but I know like Jra read Matilda like a hundred thousand times, 

Shanna: which is for some reason what I think she should still be reading. 

Jen: Yeah, me too. . Um, , [00:24:00] but she started reading at such a young age, like on her own that I didn't 

Shanna: brag, brag, brag. My kids can talk, my kids can read . 

Jen: What kinda mother um, yeah. She started reading at such a young age that by the time these books. old enough for her she was just reading and I never read them to her. The only books I read to her were actual little kid books. And then she was reading Harry Potter by herself, in grade one or something like ridiculous. Um, yeah, that's like my only. I only know that my daughter read Matilda. That's all I know. Um, but like Willy Wonka never cared about that at all. No, I hate it. Not even a little bit. I hate it. I hate it. Yeah. , I was thinking that earlier. I hate it, but I have no reason to hate it. Cause I've never read the book. I've never watched any of the movies. 

Shanna: don't bother. Sucks. I hate it. Yeah. . i, I can [00:25:00] already feel heat from that. . . 

Jen: I know. Sorry guys. It, it makes no sense, I'm sure. But, but um, we're here to talk about 'em a little bit. I started doing some reading about, because I was gonna talk about him on this podcast so I don't wanna go too much into it because we don't wanna be here all day because his bio is like a hundred thousand pages long of stuff that he's done and, and it's crazy. Um, but some things he fought in World War II in the Air Force, he crashed as plane and was temporarily blinded. He was a British spy, which I tried to read what that was about, and it was. Too many big words. I didn't know what they meant. . Yeah. So I was like, they did this on purpose so that I couldn't crack the code of the espionage.

Shanna: Got it. You would be a bad spy . Yep. I almost think I'd be a good spy, cause I just forget everything. . . 

Jen: But you go to report to the Queen and [00:26:00] she's like, what did you see? 

Shanna: I would be able to tell her several words that were relevant. . . 

Jen: Right. Um, he married an American actress named patricia Neal. They were married for 30 years and had five children. One of his children was injured when he was four months old when a taxi hit his stroller, which is my worst nightmare. Mm-hmm. . Injured. Not died. Injured. Not died. Um, but he did have, uh, I only want one baby dead. Yeah. . . Just that one particular baby 

Shanna: actually now he's pretty nice. No, he's doing a good job. Nevermind. He can live . No dead babies. 

Jen: Um, but yeah, so hit in the stroller, had some brain injuries, but. Doll went to help develop some special device to help the shunt drain fluid from the brain with like other people who are also doctors and stuff. Um, but 

Shanna: I can't [00:27:00] imagine if something happened to my kids, me going in being like, I invented this. Yeah, put it in his head. . 

Jen: I know. It's crazy. Um, his daughter, one of his daughters, Olivia, died from the measles. Hmm. Um, which caused him to become an advocate for immunization over his lifetime. Hmm. Uh, his wife while pregnant with her fifth child, had not won, but three burst brain aneurysms. Hmm. Which resulted in her needing to relearn how to walk and talk, and she did recover from that. but that is bad luck. 

Shanna: That is bad luck. Yeah. 

Jen: Much, much later. They divorced after he had a longtime affair with a very distant relative by marriage to the queen. Well, the late Queen, queen Elizabeth. 

My boss. I mean, not my boss. . Yeah. 

Such a good spy . 

Shanna: Well, that was pretty scummy of him.

Jen: Yep. It was, then he died on November 23rd, 1990, at the age of 74 from cancer. [00:28:00] Um, yeah, people love him, they love his stories.

Shanna: Yeah. When he didn't tell he was a horrible racist. 

Jen: Oh yeah, I'm getting to that. 

Shanna: Oh, perfect. I was feeling like it's gotta be coming. 

Jen: Yeah. . I just wanna point out he was beloved. People loved him. There's places named after him. There's a Roll Doll Museum. There's a charity called Roll Doll. marvelous children's charity. His birthday is a holiday in some places. Hmm. Like people love him. Um, he's also actually pretty racist. . 

Shanna: I had a feeling it was coming. Yeah. I didn't know this, but, Hmm. Something about his time period. 

Jen: Mm-hmm. , he, throughout his life said very many, a lot of anti-Semitic comment. Really bad ones. like he said something along the lines of, Hitler didn't pick on the Jews for no reason. Oh, wow. Kind of stuff. 

Shanna: Wow. What a, what a valid thought to be having and saying out loud. Mm-hmm. [00:29:00] ab Mm.

Jen: So, um, he said lots of things like that. There were some questionable things in his books. He was way worse in his, like, actual life with what he said, with his literal mouth than what he wrote in his books For children. Yes, . But there were some things that had to get changed over the years. Um, his family came out and apologized. In 2020 for these comments that he made. and people were like, oh yeah, thanks. But they apologized 30 years after his death and right as they were in the midst of a deal where Netflix was buying the role Doll Story Company. . I can see why they had to make an apology. It was, but also financially. Yeah. It was not for the right reasons and way too late. Mm-hmm. is what some people are saying. Um, so yeah. Now Netflix owns the [00:30:00] rights to all of his stories, which just, feels weird to me. 

Shanna: I mean, we're gonna get bombarded. 

Jen: Yeah. Uh, yes we are. so anyway, . The reason for all this is that, weeks ago puff and Books announced that they were going to update his books to ensure that they can con continue to be enjoyed A more inclusive audience, and there was a huge uproar about it. 

Shanna: Of course there was. Of course, 

Jen: of course. so everyone started screaming censorship. Mm-hmm. and I've been reading comments and articles and I'm just like, wow, people are really mad about this, and I'm thinking, Woohoo. Yeah. Updated books so that I can actually read them to my children and. , edit them as I'm reading them. Mm-hmm. with my words from my voice. And just hope that they can never learn to read Yes. And know [00:31:00] what this is actually saying. Yeah. 

Shanna: And then of course there's the argument of, well then you should be teaching them that lesson, blah, blah, blah. But you know what, there's a lot of books out there. If these stories are gonna keep existing, it's not like you can't get, you know everybody who's crying about it, you huge doll fans. Your books just shot up in value. Cuz now they're, you know, now they're collectors edition. They're collector. Yeah. You get the racist ones.

Jen: Sweet. Congratulations. Good job. 

Shanna: You can go put it on your racist bookshelf. . 

Jen: Um, and I do agree like some of the edits that they've made are kind of silly, but some of them aren't. Mm-hmm. and some of them that are silly to. might not be silly to other people. They got sensitivity readers to go through and just change whatever they thought. So one of them includes instead of describing someone as [00:32:00] enormously fat to describing them as just enormous, which, that's better. Okay. Mm-hmm. , um, they updated, uh, women's possible jobs. in one of the books. I don't know which one. Um, from cashier or secretary to scientist or business person. Business owner.

Shanna: Women can't do that. Yeah. also cashier is a little outlandish. . We can't count. . 

Jen: Uh, the word black was removed from the description of the terrible tractors in the fabulous Mr. Fox. 

Shanna: Uh, , did they have a bunch of other black stereotypes or did we just, I don't know. We're just taking that color out. That one feels a little weird to me.

Jen: It feels a little weird, but I don't have the whole context of Okay. The story. I've never read the fabulous Mr. Fox. 

Shanna: I watched a movie . God, apparently I'm a huge Yeah. Uh, movie fan. 

Jen: You are. I was thinking about this earlier and because black is also associated with darkness, cuz dark is black. So [00:33:00] that's normal. , but then there's also describing negative things as black. Yes. It could be taken either way. 

Shanna: Tolkien gets a lot of FLA for this, partly because he was just racist. Yeah. Um, but also, he's one of the people who kind of did the white is good, black is bad.

Jen: Mm-hmm. . Um, there's a whole bunch, there's like hundreds of little changes and some of them that I read were like, okay, , but also not something that I am gonna protest about. Yeah. Their children's books. Mm-hmm. , they're being now updated so that more people can enjoy them.

Shanna: I wonder if they still have, like, will there still be printings of the original runs? 

Jen: Yeah. So, after everyone freaked out, like only a few days later, they announced. Okay. We're actually also going to publish unedited versions of the book in this Special Dolls Classic. Yeah, and then a Fox set or something like that.

Shanna: Kind of like what Disney's done before, [00:34:00] a bunch of their movies that had racist imagery or whichever. They have like a 12 or 15 second. thing that they play before like a ladin. Mm-hmm. that says there are depictions that are not okay. Um, we've kept everything in, blah, blah, blah. But, you know, talk about this amongst yourselves. Mm-hmm. , figure it out. Yeah. Yeah. I think that was actually verbatim what it says. . 

Jen: Yes. I, that is what I remember reading. Um, so yeah, they are gonna really see unedited. books as well. Which, and then everyone calmed down. Yeah. Which I'm like, what? They probably were gonna do that anyways. And now mm-hmm. they've given themselves a whole bunch, publicity. Now they're, everyone's sell, sell extra books. Yeah. 

Shanna: I mean, it was a good move if you're a money hungry monster. Yes. Yes. , sorry, I should specify. 

Jen: But I. . I wish that more things were [00:35:00] updated so that when I am reading them oh, there's just been so many times where I think I'm gonna share this with my children. And then I sit down and start reading it, and then I'm like, and nevermind. Yep. Or watching movies, and I'm like, and turning this off. Yes. . Because it's terrible. We know better now. 

Shanna: And oh man, I got home one day and my mom, like, she'll just have Disney on for the kids. Right. And she'll just pick mm-hmm. Classic, whatever. Uh, she had just started Pocahontas. Ah, yeah. Wow. That one is rough. It's so bad. I turned it off almost immediately cuz I could not believe what I was =hearing. 

Jen: I know. I love. Pocahontas . That was my favorite. And when I was a kid, it just never really occurred to me. Then, you know, I tried watching it as an adult and I was, I can't even say out loud what they were saying in this children's movie because it's terrible. 

Shanna: Lord. I, yeah, I [00:36:00] told my mom, I was like, well, okay, can we not do Pontis please? Like Aladdin might have a few. Bits, but PAH is nothing. But although that ones song is really good 

Jen: color, colors of the wind, I'll sing that until the day I die.

I, you, you're, so I, One. Totally. Okay. With censorship. . Turns out. 

Shanna: Turns out I have a, as long as varying opinions, 

Jen: as long as it's, you know, censoring racist people, 

Shanna: right. But then I've got this really hard stance on band books. I love me a good band book . 

Jen: Yep. It's a, it's a thin line. . Yep. 

Shanna: It's complicated. It's a complicated issue. 

Jen: think in this case, they're not censoring an entire idea. They're not trying to control what we're [00:37:00] actually consuming and thinking. They're just tweaking language to be more acceptable to children. Yeah. is okay. That is okay , in my brain. Yeah. As adults, we can decide whatever we wanna read. 

Shanna: If they told me I was not allowed to read it mm-hmm. . Yeah. If they canceled the books altogether, whatever, then that would be a problem. Which they did with Dr. Seuss. Yeah. Yeah. They stopped printing a bunch of his old books because they were hideously. Racist. 

Jen: Yep. Which I'm also okay with that 

Shanna: nobody bought them. Yeah. . That was probably also part of it, was we were making no money and also they're bad. Yeah. Not everything the man wrote was gold, guys. It's No. Nope. Even the gold is a little iffy. sometimes. Yes. All right, so we've pissed off, uh, any doll fans. Pissed off. Any Seuss fans? Any fans of books [00:38:00] that have unhinged female protagonists? ? Yes. Who else have we personally isolated today? . 

Jen: Babies. Babies, , dragon Lovers. . Okay. It's okay. Maybe we have changed. Maybe we have . 

Shanna: Hey, no. Speaking of Dragon lovers, you like ero. 

Jen: Do I, 

Shanna: I have this feeling like you do. Um, oh no. Maybe it's just cuz your husband writes it. No, maybe. Maybe . So, and you like him, but I'll just have to find you some good Dragon books and you can, I've never read one 

Jen: As long as they're not like sweating into their pajamas and wafting the scent of it. 

Shanna: biting scales and getting a little flex stuck in their teeth. I know you're into that. Yeah. . It's no armpit hair. 

Jen: Yeah. Well, if there's no armpit hair, I don't wanna read it. 

Shanna: Okay. I'll edit , if that's okay with everyone.

Jen: So I, I just wanted to, before we're [00:39:00] out of here, I wanted to mention a book that I heard about that I didn't know about. It's called Clytemnestra Woo Woo by Costanza Casati so this came up on my radar because it's for lovers of the Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. Yes. Which we are obsessed with. . Um, the cover is wonderful. It's so good. Take a look at it. Um, and yeah, it's about Clytemnestra who killed Agamemnon. That's right. She is my favorite and also there's just been this huge influx of books about the women behind the Trojan War. And for some reason, I mean, I read, A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes. and then I just didn't read anymore, but there's been so many, so on. My list is also Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes and Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes. She's put out all these great books that I just have [00:40:00] not read, and for some reason I keep getting the hold from the library and then being like, nah. Oh, and I don't know why. It's just That's weird. Yeah, it's 

Shanna: weird. It's probably because you wanna share it with me and probably, and you know, my brain is 

Jen: broken probably. . There's also one that's supposed to be really good called the Daughters of Sparta, by Claire Haywood.

Shanna: So somebody had one coming out or already out about, uh, the Bad Daughter, Electra. Oh, 

Jen: I did read Electr. Oh, you read it? Okay. Yeah. And yeah, electr hated her. She's terrible. Yeah. So she was like, oh. My poor dad, Eggan. . Wow. I will avenge him. And I'm like, why? He is the worst. He's the actual worst. So I found it really hard to empathize with her. And I didn't wanna be with her at all cause she was so annoying. So that book was a little bit harder for me. 

All right. Well that is all we have for you today. 

Shanna: We had to get all new everything because Jen is. [00:41:00] AK . . 

Jen: Hey. Okay, shut up, . It's not true. It's not true. Not true. 

Shanna: So you can find us@goodbookspodcast.com and we are in Her Good Books podcast on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Guys, Jen to TikTok the other day that kills me. It is her and I. and our styles of getting ready for this podcast, and it's just so . It's perfect. Check it out. 

Jen: . I've actually been posting tos. I think I've been figuring it out. So head over there and give us a follow to support the podcast and also never miss what we're doing.

Well, We'll see you in two weeks. Two weeks. Bye